The annual Hospital Fete, at its new venue at Wellington Scout Hall, was once again a big success. Crowds of people flooded in to snap up bargains and the event is expected to have raised about £2,000 for the League of Friends of Wellington Hospital.

This high level of support was against the backdrop of the temporary closure of inpatient beds at the Community Hospital, now closed for 11 months.

Forty-one prizes were on offer in the raffle – vouchers for eating out, beauty and hair treatments, days out and more – many containing more than one item and all given by local businesses and individuals.

Local nurseries were also generous in their donation of plants and flowers, which always prove popular.

West Buckland WI provided and ran a cake stall and Wellington Inner Wheel a bric-a-brac and nearly new stall, and other people helped on various stalls.

Other stalls organised and run by the League of Friends were chocolate tombola, water or wine, kitchen items, bric-a-brac, books, refreshments, plant stall, and, of course, raffle ticket sales.

Over tea and cake visitors chatted about the hospital, what it meant to them and their families, how they wanted to see it fully open again, and their frustration and concerns about the delay in re-opening the inpatient beds. They also talked about the recent Panorama Programme Crisis in Care in which the closure of Stratfield Dementia Day Care Service had featured.

Speaking on behalf of the League of Friends, Diane Grabham said: “A huge thank you to all those who helped in so many ways. It always amazes me just how much support we get, particularly for the annual fete. People are so generous – we’ve already had new people offer raffle prizes for next year. The annual fete always has such a lovely friendly feel about it.

“It’s now almost a year since the inpatient beds were first closed. We feared fundraising would become more difficult but that hasn’t been the case. Support is as high as ever and I think this demonstrates the people of Wellington are determined to have their community hospital fully open again and to keep it that way. Somerset NHS Partnership Trust is hopeful of re-opening in September – let’s hope this happens.”

During the past year the League of Friends has funded a new exercise bike for the physiotherapy department and a portable doppler machine for use by the District Nursing Team.

The next fundraising event is the Christmas coffee morning in November.